ABSTRACT
Computer games are a part of many people’s everyday activities and an expanding cultural phenomenon (Egenfeldt-Nielsen & Smith, 2000; Linderoth, Lantz-Andersson, & Lindström, 2002; Poole, 2000). This has brought expectations about the use of computer games in education for pedagogical purposes. A number of studies, projects, and conferences are concerned with the issue of computer games in education.1 Games and simulations were used as learning resources long before the development of computer technology (Avedon & Sutton-Smith, 1971), and there is a long tradition of educators using games and simulations in their classrooms (Millians, 1999). However, the motives for using and developing computer games in education comprise a rather diverse, indistinct, and incongruous cluster of arguments. This diversity can be found both in the discussion of what specific learning objectives might be fulfilled by the introduction of computer games in education and in the ideas about how games contribute to learning (Linderoth et al., 2002).
